title: Managing murine food allergy with Cissampelos sympodialis Eichl (Menispermaceae) and its alkaloids.
abstract: Food allergy is a severe human disease with imminent risk of life. Cissampelos sympodialis (Menispermaceae) is a native Brazilian plant used in Brazilian folk medicine for the treatment of respiratory allergies. In this study the experimental model of food allergy induced by ovalbumin (OVA) was used to determine whether the alcoholic extract of the plant (AFL) and its alkaloids match a therapeutic approach for this disease. Animal weight, diarrhea, OVA-specific IgE levels, inflammatory cell and cytokine profiles, mucus production and proportion of T cells on the mesenteric lymph node (MLN) were evaluated. Warifteine (W) or methyl-warifteine (MW) alkaloids slightly improve diarrhea score independently of AFL and all treatments decreased the OVA-specific IgE levels. Stimulated mesenteric lymph node (MLN) cells in the presence of the alkaloids diminished the IL-12p70 levels independently of IFN-γ or IL-13 secretion. The alkaloids increased the number of Treg cells on MLN and reduced the number of eosinophils and mast cells as well as mucus production in the gut. Therefore, the alkaloids modulate the immune response in food allergy by increasing regulatory T cells in MLN independently of Th1 or Th2 profiles.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia e Patologia, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Paraíba, Brazil.
authors.forename: Hermann Ferreira
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Fagner Carvalho
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Leite
authors.forename: Adriano Francisco
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.forename: José Maria
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Barbosa-Filho
authors.forename: Claudio Roberto Bezerra
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: dos Santos
authors.forename: Marcia Regina
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Piuvezam
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D031606:Cissampelos / Q000276:immunology*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004804:Eosinophils / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000276:immunology; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D010936:Plant Extracts; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D016207:Cytokines; D010936:Plant Extracts; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; C003931:warifteine; D010047:Ovalbumin
keywords: Alkaloids; Cissampelos sympodialis; Cytokines; Food allergy; Ovalbumin; T cell populations